Rugby: Blues looking to neutralise familiar threat

The Blues will be looking to neutralise a well-known threat when they face in-form Super 14 rugby foes the Reds in Brisbane tomorrow night.

Former Blues flanker Daniel Braid will face his old side for the first time and fresh from being handed the Reds' vice-captaincy.

His elevation this week follows the season-ending knee injury to lock John Horwill, with halfback Will Genia stepping up as skipper in Horwill's absence.

Opposition loose forward Jerome Kaino has little doubt about the influence Braid will have at Ballymore.

"He's going to be huge," said Kaino, who played with Braid in both the Blues and the All Blacks.

"He's going to know how a lot of individuals in this team play, and he's going to read the game pretty well."

Making Braid an even greater danger is the referees' new interpretation of the breakdown laws, which suit his strengths as a link man and ball winner.

"We're going to have to come up with ways of keeping him out of the game," Kaino said.

"We have to try to keep the ball up..  If you put it on the ground, he showed last weekend how damaging he can be."

Braid joined the Reds before the start of last season after 59 matches for the Blues, but missed the Reds' win at North Harbour last April, having ruptured his achilles the week before.

He has been promised a warm reception from his former team-mates.

"The boys are quietly putting a target on his chest," Kaino said with a smile.

Both sides go into the match boosted by their first win of the season last weekend.

While the Reds were impressive in upsetting title favourites the Crusaders 41-20, the Blues were made to work hard against the Highlanders before scraping through with a slightly fortuitous 19-15 victory.

One problem area at Carisbrook was their lineout, with Kaino admitting that it had been "a shocker".

"We didn't play too well but we still grounded out the win," he said.

"We got a lot of confidence out of that, and also knowing that, if we win our lineout ball and get things right, we have the skill and the speed in the backs to do the damage."

The Reds, who moved permanently to Suncorp Stadium in 2006, are making a one-match return to Ballymore.

The reason is that Suncorp is being kept free in preparation for Australia's Asian Cup football qualifier against Indonesia next Wednesday.

The home of Queensland rugby, Ballymore, has been a far from happy hunting ground for the Blues.

They have lost on all five visits there, copping a 51-13 drubbing in the first year of Super 12 in 1996.

"There's a lot of history at Ballymore and their fans definitely get behind them there," Kaino said.

"The conditions are going to be humid. The boys are up for the challenge, but it's not going to be easy."